Apple’s developer betas of future versions of iOS are just that, betas, which means that there’s all sorts of problems that can come up when you install one. Total device meltdown, though? That’s the sort of thing that ought to be ironed out in alpha, yet that’s just what at least one iOS 5 Beta user is reporting after installing the dev preview on his iPad: massive, device crippling overheating issues. And Apple says it’s a known issue.
PC Pro reports that after installing the beta on his iPad, one of their readers found that his iPad’s WiFi chip no longer worked, and the screen temperature reached a crispy 65 degrees celsius.
Taking his iPad into the Regent Street, London Apple Store, the afflicted iPad owner was initially denied compensation, but ultimately common sense prevailed, and he was offered a replacement iPad as well as £60 of App Store credit.
What’s weird here is that the iPad owner was denied a replacement despite the fact that Apple Store employees described it as a “known issue” for first-gen iPads. If that’s true, you’d think this wouldn’t be up for debate.
Either way, this is the first report we’ve seen of something like this, so take with a grain of salt. Either way, though, if you’re a first gen iPad owner who has been toying with installing the iOS 5 Beta, you might want to hold off until Beta 3.
[via MacWorld]
John Brownlee is a writer for Fast Company, and a contributing writer here at CoM. He has also written for Wired, Playboy, Boing Boing, Popular Mechanics, VentureBeat, and Gizmodo. He lives in Boston with his wife and two parakeets. You can follow him here on Twitter.
22 responses to “iPad Undergoes Meltdown After Installing iOS 5 Beta”
Installed it on my iPad with no issues. Running great in fact with no overheating issues. Frankly think it runs better than iOS 4.3.3 on the original iPad.
I think it was just a fluke co-incidence..
By the way, using the new Reminders with location on will use the GPS a lot.. which in turn means the iDevice gets warmer and also battery will drain…
Correct. This happens when you are using the reminders with location, it is constantly searching for GPS, killing your battery, so now I see no use for that unless Im intersted in just killing my battery.
I’m surprised that this person actually let Apple take care of him, instead of bitching and moaning on the blogs first. Apple always treats their customers right when given the opportunity to, even if it does take persistence to make it happen.
No way he should have got his money back or a replacement. It’s the fact that there isn’t any consequence to actions like these that encourages idiots to continue doing them.
I have a long list of bugs…normally beta in Apple sense are better than other companies…but this beta 2…well….you said it right…melt down my iPad! Shame on U Apple!
I don’t believe this to be true. Even it were, it would be an isolated rare incident and most likely not due to installing the beta at all, but rather faulty parts in the iPad itself. Speaking of the beta, anyone wanting to try it check out http://ios5activations.com
So developers testing beta software to ensure their applications work on the next iOS are idiots who should lose their equipment due to faulty software that Apple wants them to install and test?
In beta 2 there is a bit of “Broken code” that causes the weather widget to keep searching for a location. This runs rampant on battery and does cause the phone (in my case an iPhone4 GSM) to become quite hot. The only easy fix i found was to turn off the widget and then restart the phone. Other than that i found no real problems on either my phone or iPad 2.
It’s a software issue caused by the Beta. When you install Betas you agree that you understand that Apple is not to blame for any issues that occur due to using the software. So the guy actually didn’t deserve a replacement. The folks at the store were being nice to him by making an exception. The claim of a credit however is potentially bogus. Apple never does that kind of stuff when they ‘customer service’ code a replacement that is actually OOW.
Also, they likely said it was a known issue with the Beta, not with the ipad itself
Yep. They were warned of the risks, which is why they are not supposed to use a device that their actual personal use one so there’s no data to be lost if it boinks.